


Part 2: Liberosis

by wannabe_someone



Series: MJ takes over the world [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Ari's backstory, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Polyamory, So much trauma, and my shitty writing, kinda tragic, not fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:55:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23158165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wannabe_someone/pseuds/wannabe_someone
Summary: Liberosis (n): the desire to care less about thingsAri had always been able to separate her life into before and after. Her entire life was marked with these moments, these turning points, places where she had always known that something had changed.
Relationships: All the oc's - Relationship
Series: MJ takes over the world [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1662619
Kudos: 5





	Part 2: Liberosis

**Author's Note:**

> tw for suicide, panic attacks
> 
> yay part 2, expect more soon bc schools cancelled for a bit bc corona
> 
> also to the ppl who commented about the end notes on part one, thank you, its going well, ive spent too much time looking up how to bind safely to distract myself fr corona and everyone ive told is supportive so yay

Ari had always been able to separate her life into before and after. Her entire life was marked with these moments, these turning points, places where she had always known that something had changed.

The first years of her life were always unremarkable. She was like any other child, maybe slightly more anxious and intelligent, but a child like any other. Her mothers were always there, always supportive. She did well in school, had friends, had a normal life.

Then in a flash; or in a snap, it was all gone.

Ari had always been told that you remembered these moments, these horrible, life changing moments, but she remembered none of the details, just flashes. Crying, horribly crying onto her mom’s shirt at the funeral. Nights where sleep just wouldn’t come, instead lying awake, afraid that if she closed her eyes, she would disappear, just like her Mama. Sitting in her classes, watching as everyone grieved, but wanting to have life go back to normal, just so she could forget about everything that had happened.

Soon after, a double serving of trauma. Her friend was there one day, gone the next. She’d known Ben for most of her life, and then he was gone. Another funeral service, this one at a temple. Going to his family’s house as they sat shiva. Walking away, down the street, telling her mom that she was going outside on the phone she’d just gotten.

Seeing the ominous, greenish cloud that had gathered and freezing. She couldn’t run, couldn’t hide, couldn’t fight her instincts. The next thing she knew, she was coughing, crying, finally seeing the light of day as-

But she’d been out at night. Ari knew that, didn’t know what had happened, didn’t know where her time had gone. There were people all around her, surrounding her, faces all around her.

She could hear her own heart pounding, beating, throbbing in her ears. Her nails dug into her palms, and she saw them gleam. But she didn’t wear nail polish, she never had so what had happened?

The voices got louder and louder, and her breathing got faster and faster, until all she knew was panic and she didn’t know why, didn’t know what to do, how to stop it.

Her mom raced out of Ben’s, no, Ben’s family’s house and tried to get to see her, but she was pushed back by the people in front of Ari.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but you can’t talk to her right now. We have to take her into custody. She might be dangerous.”

The officer did sound sorry, but Ari couldn’t trust them. She was just sitting there, paralyzed, as someone grabbed her wrists and put them into these thick, hard handcuffs, made of some kind of material that she couldn’t recognize.

Ari knew that this was wrong. She started breathing even harder, panicking more. Ari wanted her mom, wanted the one person who’d been there for her throughout this.

Ari didn’t realize this, but there was a crowd on the sidewalk, and their phones were out, capturing the entire scene. Her mom was yelling at the cops, arguing with them. 

“She is my goddamn daughter, and she’s having a fucking panic attack! At least let me get through, I can help her!”

Her mother looked like a lioness, wild hair streaming around her, in a long skirt and a top, fiercely protecting her child. Ari let out a shuddery sob. “Mom- Mom, what’s going on? What’s going to happen to me?”

“Please ma’am, you should stay away.”

Her mother’s tone shifted, becoming deadly serious, something her Mama had always called her Mom’s teacher voice. “Who gave you the authority to do this?”

The police officer looked terrified now. “General Ross.”

“She is just a kid, dammit! Can’t you just use your common sense? And what has she ever even done? She just got caught up in this accident, all because you-” she glared at the officers- “couldn’t protect that lab. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to find a lawyer, and try to see what I can do to fix this.”

As her mom said this, Ari was being gently pulled to her feet and guided into a car. She glanced back at her mom, pleading her to fix this.

In the end, her mom couldn’t fix it. The good thing was that other people did. Ari didn’t remember much at the time, but she remembered two women showing up at the door of the white, white room she’d been put in, utterly alone, except for what they’d given her: some clothes, dishes from the food, toiletries, and a few books. Ari was curled up on the bed, crying. She’d spent the entire time she’d been there panicking, not sure what was going on or how to deal with this.

Outside, she heard voices, and the door creaked open soundlessly. A woman in what looked like armor, a spear in her hands, stepped in.

Ari cringed backward, scooting against the wall, making herself as small as possible. Seeing this, the woman put down her spear, gently dropping it to the ground. 

“I’m not here to hurt you.”

At that sentence, Ari uncurled a bit, but still tracked her every movement with her eyes. The woman stepped closer, then a little bit closer, holding her hands in front of her body.

“How do I know that I can trust you?” Ari said quietly, the first words she’d said in her entire time here. She tried to pull her body up straighter, meet the woman’s eyes, but then she had to stop as she finally noticed her splitting headache.

The woman smiled, but it was also sad. “Very smart. You can’t. But I am telling you, you can trust me. I’m with the Avengers, or whoever is left, anyway.”

“Because of the Accords, doesn’t Ross control the Avengers?” Ari wasn’t sure where she’d heard that, but she knew it was true somewhere in her mind.

“Yes, but the Avengers have a talent for going rogue.” Ari turned at the subtle sound of static as the woman pressed on the bracelet she was wearing. She suddenly heard a voice. 

“Okoye, what’s going on? Almost everyone else is out, how long until you’re done?”

“There’s just one person here. It took me a while to find them. They’re young, a child. I’ll be out of here soon.”

Okoye turned back to Ari. “Does that convince you?”

Ari crept out of the bed where she’d been sitting, slowly. She hadn’t really eaten or drunk anything, so she was dizzy and tired. “I’ll go with you.” Then she looked up at Okoye. “Do you know where my mom is? She was trying to get me out of here, and I don’t know what happened. Can you- can you find her?”

Okoye ushered Ari down the hall. “We will be able to find her.”

One long plane ride later, Ari was back, surrounded by cameras, bombarded with questions. At the end of this was her mom, part of a large crowd, along with a large man she’d never met before. She ran towards her mom, wanting to see her again.

Eventually, she was in a large car, on her way back home. Okoye and the Black Widow had offered to let them stay somewhere else, but her mom had said that they would be going back home. Across from Ari was the man that her mom had been with, and next to her was her mom, asleep.

Quietly, he said, “You’re Arianna, right? I’m West.” He extended his hand to shake. Ari didn’t take it.

“Why are you here?”

“I’m a lawyer. What happened to you should be illegal, and we’re trying to work on making it that way.”

Ari still didn’t trust him. She curled back into the seat of the car, ignoring him. She didn’t want any of this to happen. She just wanted to be normal again, not dealing with this insanity.

The insanity did not go away. West was still around, this time as her mother’s boyfriend. She was always hiding at home, only letting a few people in.

She went to therapy, started to get her life back together. Started to make friends, learn to cope with what had happened. Life was normal again, after a few years. She went to school, tried to hide how different she was. Terrigenesis had made it so that everything was more reflective, but if she tried to subtly let some of the light absorb, it dealt with that. She hid, but she was good that way. 

Then the Blip happened. Her Mama was back, but she didn’t know what to do. She tried to adjust, again, as the changes kept coming. Her Mama moved to an apartment not far away from Ari’s mom and West. Something happened, and now Mom was in a relationship with both West and Ari’s other mom.

They all learned to work as a family, getting together. Ari was still nervous, tense, insanely self conscious, but around them, she could be herself.

It all led to this: getting into Midtown, meeting MJ, becoming a part of this group. And the wanting to open up more became a real thing, and she met people who understood. For the first time in 5 years, she knew that this was a new After, but this time, she could tell that it was a good one.

**Author's Note:**

> i used she/her for ari bc she generally uses she/her even in her own head, she would like it if ppl used they/them, but she still uses she as default bc she was raised female and it works for her
> 
> also fuck general ross


End file.
